When officiating a grade school age game I try to ignore the parents. In one gym that is almost impossible because there are no bleachers and about 2 feet of sideline.
Here's the scenario:

5th Grade boys, 2 teams from affluent(read snooty)towns.
Team A is up 10 with 2 mins left. I call a shooting foul on B1. A team B Mom has been riding me the whole game, to the point that other parents won't even sit near her any more.

After I report to the table I move toward the sideline for the free throws..of course right in front of this women.
She keeps going with " You're not calling enough fouls,...they have someone in the lane for 3 seconds every time down, Someones going to get hurt".

Finally, I've had enough. In between the first and second free throw, I blow my whistle, the gym quiets down to a pin drop, I turn to the mom and say " Listen lady, If I wanted to get bitched at today, I would have stayed home with my wife! Now shut up and sit down." I received a standing ovation from the rest of the gym.

Just a little chuckle, maybe Dave would like.

Not my style
 

Suppref,
I would never do that, though I may think aboout it.
mick

That took some serious onions.

I like it!
 

I wish sometimes that I would have enough onions to do that. I have done a few grade school games were a parent is kinda like you described but I did not say anything but I sure thought about it.
The one thing that gets me about this is that around here I help out local schools with their grade school games on the weekends when I can and they don't pay anything (although they do let you eat for free and when you are there all day you can eat alot) I would just like to tell some people that I am here just doing my job for free and if I wasn't here your kid might not even have a game so just sit down and enjoy the day!

I like that better! You don't sound cocky...you do sound like you have a lot of patience...and even though you didn't get any respect, you did give it.

"Gotta give respect to get it."

a better way?
 

Supp,

Wouldn't it have been better to just have this lady removed from the gym?

Doing this would have <b>totally</b> embarrased her. And your professionalism would have been maintained.

Just a thought... :)

Details....
 

I guess I forgot some details regarding this post. This was a 5th grade travel team game. It was also the 6th or 7th game of the day (7 or 8 hours on my legs). This women was an obnoxious mom who's son , of course, will be the next MJ. She was indeed an embarassment to herself as well as the other parents from her towns team. I in no way shared this story as a precedent on how to handle a crowd or unruly spectator, but only as an anectdote to maybe bring a chuckle to your day. I apologize for the misunderstanding.

Re: Details....
 

Suppref,
Number of games shouldn't make a difference.
If, in our last game, we don't handle ourselves with the same decorum as we do in the first game, because we are fatigued, then we are working too many games.
Perhaps, when we work a lot of games, there should be a rule that bad fans come early in the day, and happy fans come late.
mick

Taken in context, I did chuckle. I wouldn't do it, but then again I laugh my rump off at what dave says, and I would never do that either.

What did your wifew think?????????

Funny you should ask...
 

As you can imagine I'm not married to her anymore!!!

I wouldn't have handled it that way. I have had situations where I have told fans during dead ball situations, time outs, etc. things such as "officiating classes start in August and we're always looking for new officials". I've found that for the most part, once you say something to these people, provided you're not being aggressive, they often are caught by surprise because they are not expecting you to actually reply to them. I must admit however that once one of my partners told a fan about the officiating classes and the fan replied that maybe he should go back and retake the class!!! Another way to handle it is to determine who the game management is and ask them to talk to the fan.

Here's what Dave has done
 

Usually, when there is an obnoxious fan sitting down low, Dave makes sure there's an OOB throwin right in front of him/her and then blows his whistle right in their ear.

Do that 3 or 4 times and they usually get the message. Besides, what can they do about it?

Re: Here's what Dave has done
 

This is great!!!

I worked a local community college game last night. Nothing exciting, About 3 people in the stands. One of which is this guy all by himself at the end of the stands. If he weighed 5 lbs he weighed 300 lbs easy. I make a call down his end and he starts in on me "Hey, Rogaine, ( I do have male pattern baldness...okay it's worse than that i'm way bald) bad call." Next time down i hear "Hey Rogaine , 3 seconds." Next time down my partner makes a call. He goes to the table and go down low for the free throw admin. Time out is called. This guy sarts again,"Hey Rogaine,you're working alone, you need some help."

Okay my turn, I take my partner over in the jackasses direction and look him right in the eye and say:
" Hey Jenny Craig, Try a salad once in awhile." My partner laughs outloud, this guy turns beet red, and can't get out of the gym fast enough.
I know some of you will think it was inappropriate but it was hilarious.

LMAO, but I couldn't do it....
 

Supref.... You GOT BALLZ!!! Although in a nearly empty gym, I give it an 8.75 (10 being a physical tossing of "Jenny Craig")

Mark Padgett... I can use your method, I have logged that one in my repretoire(sp).

Walter ... See Mark Padgett